Graduate Admissions

The department only offers admission in the fall. The online application process for admission to our MA and PhD programs opens annually in October (for the following fall) at uApply, McGill’s online graduate admissions system. The deadline to apply for Fall 2019 is January 15, 2019. For detailed instructions on how to apply and upload required supporting documents into the application system, see McGill’s instructions on “Preparing to Apply.” Applicants are notified of the decision of the Graduate Admissions Committee via uApply and by (e-)mailed letter from the department, at the very latest, by the end of April.

NOTE: It is the applicant’s responsibility to insure that ALL supporting documents are received by the January 15th, 2019 deadline. Incomplete applications will not be considered.

The strength of an applicant’s academic record is of key importance in considering his/her application for admission. The Graduate Admissions Committee assesses applications to both the MA and PhD programs on the basis of the following required materials:

transcripts for all coursework pursued at the post-secondary level (including those involving transfer credits)

two reference letters

GRE results (quantitative, verbal and analytical),only for students who have not received a degree from a Canadian university

The department’s acceptance rate (approximately 20% of the applicant pool) means that admission to our programs is quite competitive.

Note that the M.A. program in Sociology and related options is primarily organized around the non-thesis degree. The department only accepts students into the M.A. Thesis option under exceptional circumstances.

Degree and Cumulative Grade Point Average

Applicants – whether for an MA or PhD program –should ideally have a Bachelor’s degree with a standing equivalent to a Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) of 3.3 or better out of a possible 4.0. The degree may be in sociology or in another relevant social science. In the latter case, applicants may be required to take additional sociology courses to fill gaps in their background.

Course Prerequisites: MA Programs

We normally expect students applying to our MA programs to have taken the equivalent of the following required courses in our undergraduate honours program:

Applicants who lack the majority of these prerequisite courses may be admitted to a qualifying semester or year during which they can take the prerequisite courses. During the ‘qualifying’ period, students must take a minimum of 12 credits (4 courses) per semester. No more than one qualifying year is permitted. Each course must be passed with a grade of B+ or higher to be considered for admission to the MA program. Admission to the qualifying semester or year does not mean automatic admission to the graduate program afterwards. Applicants admitted for a qualifying semester or year must reapply for the MA program; chances for admission depend on performance during the qualifying period and the quality of the overall application compared with other applicants at that time. No funding is available for students taking a qualifying semester or year.

Course Prerequisites: PhD Program

We normally expect students applying to our PhD program to have taken the equivalent of the following required courses in our MA programs:

If one or more of these prerequisites is lacking in an applicant’s background, s/he will be required – once admitted to the PhD program – to take the missing course(s) during the first year of the program.

Graduate Record Examination (GRE)

Applicants who have not attended a Canadian university are required to submit GRE scores (in quantitative reasoning, verbal reasoning and analytic writing). Applicants should arrange to take the GRE well in advance of the application deadline in order to insure that the scoresreach us electronically by that time; it takes at least 10-15 days from the date the test is taken to be electronically received by us. Arrangements to take the GRE should be made directly with the Educational Testing Service. We generally expect applicants to have GRE scores in the 80th percentile or better.

All applicants are required to submit a personal statement (maximum 1,000 words, double-spaced). The statement should: 1) outline the applicant’s areas of academic interest (e.g., proposed research topic) 2) identify faculty members of interest (e.g., possible supervisors) and with whom the applicant’s research interests align and 3) discuss future academic and/or career plans.

All applicants are strongly encouraged to contact faculty members with whom they may wish to work – in advance of applying – to ascertain their availability (e.g.,ensure they will not be on leave, are able to take on more students).

Writing Sample

All applicants are required to submit ONE research paper or publication in English or French (maximum 15 pages, double-spaced).

FULL-TIME VERSUS PART-TIME STUDY

In principle, it is possible to pursue graduate studies in sociology on a half-time basis, but we discourage students from pursuing this route. Why? Well, first, there is no financial advantage. You will have to register and pay tuition fees for twice the number of terms. Second, half-time amounts to no more than a one-third course reduction since McGill requires that you take at least two 3-credit courses per term. Finally, the courses in our graduate program form an integrated whole which we strongly recommend you take in sequence and in the intended time-frame.